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Leno stretches Lamborghini Diablo's legs for latest Garage installment

While posters of the Lamborghini Countach decorated the walls of many boys' walls in the 1980s, the Diablo filled that spot for young men in the early 1990s thanks to its extreme styling. In its latest video, Jay Leno's Garage welcomes a beautiful, white 1991 Diablo into his garage for a look back on what is now a classic supercar.
Unlike some of the vehicles Leno shows off, this one doesn't belong to him. Instead, veteran Italian car mechanic Franco Barbuscia owns it. He has been maintaining Jay's Countach for years. A '91 Diablo is an archaic supercar by today's standards. It doesn't have power steering, anti-lock brakes or obviously anything like traction control. It's just a big V12 hanging behind the driver with a wonderfully meaty roar that emanates from the exhaust.
Franco's Diablo might actually be better than new. It has a few upgrades to aid in drivability, like re-spaced pedals, a carbon-Kevlar clutch and more. Apparently all of the tweaks help a lot because, "it rides smoother than my Carrera GT," Leno enthuses about the car. Scroll down to reminisce about this Italian classic and get an ear full of its wonderful sound.

Wrecked Lamborghini Countach from 'Wolf of Wall Street' fails to sell in Abu Dhabi

Martin Scorsese used two genuine 1989 Lamborghini Countach 25th Anniversary Editions in "The Wolf of Wall Street." They're both headed to auction in December, one of them for the second time. See, in August, RM Sotheby's announced that it would auction one of the movie cars in New York in December, its lot being an undamaged Bianco Polo Countach 25th Anniversary. At the time, no one had information on the location or condition of the second car that had been damaged rather badly as part of filming, victim of the main character driving under severe influence and the stunt department putting in some sledgehammer work. In November, the second, wrecked car showed up in the catalog for Bonhams' On the Grid auction at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Formula 1 Grand Prix. Bonhams put the presale estimate at $1.5 million to $2 million. Someone submitted a bid for $1.35 million, which the seller rejected, so the auction house is putting the car up for sale at a later date. For some perspective on that rejected bid, Hagerty values the 1989 Lamborghini Countach Silver Edition in good condition at $440,000, the qualification being that the car "Runs and drives well. Flaws not noticeable to passersby." An example in concours condition, which is "World-class. Could compete in the world's best Concours d'Elegance events," is valued at $780,000. Classic.com, which tracks transactions of exotics and classics, shows a number of sales this year. Bring a Trailer sold three over the summer, one for $577,600, a second for $632,000, a third for $670,000. Other summer auctions for the same model pulled $472,500, $465,000, and a rejected high bid of $342,000. The highest prices paid this year are $775,000 for a car with 154 miles and $715,000 paid for a car with 102 miles. "The Wolf of Wall Street" car is an undriveable heap, a piece of cinematic sculpture at best, for which the owner seeks at least double the price of a practically new car. And what's wrong with that? Art regularly goes for more than $1.5 million, if that's what this is to be considered — and that might indeed be the consideration. RM Sotheby's recently put a 1962 Ferrari 250/330 GTO on the block at one of its art auctions in New York, perhaps Bonhams plans to do something similar. Car & Bike wrote that the Lamborghini heads to auction again in December. Bonhams' site lists three car-centric auctions in December, the Countach so far not shown among the lots.

Lamborghini's Aventador replacement will receive a new V12 engine

Lamborghini is about to close one of the longest and most significant chapters in its history. It announced the Aventador Ultimae unveiled in July 2021 is the last non-electrified, V12-powered street-legal model it will build. The car's successor, whose name hasn't been revealed yet, will inaugurate a gasoline-electric hybrid powertrain built around a new V12 engine. Company boss Stephan Winkelmann filled us in on some of the details. Sending off the non-electrified, V12-powered supercar is a big deal for Lamborghini, so a lot of time and resources went into increasing the engine's output for the grand finale. It develops 770 horsepower at 8,500 rpm and 531 pound-feet of torque at 6,750 rpm, figures that eclipse both the Aventador S and the Aventador SVJ. Winkelmann told Autoblog that 770 horses was "the best possible power output we could get" out of the 6.5-liter engine. It's the end of the road for this V12, because the Aventador's replacement will receive a new engine. Winkelmann said it's too early to reveal specific details, like its displacement, but he stressed it's not something we've seen before. And the hybrid system is notably not related to the technology that powered the limited-edition Sian. "The technology is different, it's a completely new engine, a completely new drivetrain, a new battery, everything is completely new. There's nothing out of the Sian or out of the Aventador [in the next flagship]," he said. Some things won't change. Winkelmann cited carbon fiber construction, four-wheel-drive, active aerodynamic technology, and a four-wheel steering system as attributes from the Aventador that are worth keeping. And, adding a turbo (or two, or three, or four) to the new V12 was never considered — forced induction adds weight and puts unnecessary stress on an engine. Besides, the V12 has "horsepower en masse." Natural aspiration is here to stay. Regulatory hurdles are part of what's driving Lamborghini towards electrification, so the Ultimae truly is the last of its kind. However, the non-electrified V12 could live on in some few-off models built for track use, like the Essenza SCV12. "For homologated cars, it's a no. For the others, we will see. It's not planned so far, but there could be an opportunity," Winkelmann replied when asked if future V12-powered race cars could eschew a hybrid system. This is it, then. Lamborghini will build 600 units of the Aventador Ultimae, a number split 350-250 between coupes and roadsters.